Interaction Design, User experience

This form is made with the purpose of giving us, 5 students in a course in Human - Computer Interaction design. Our task is to create two designs that is ready to be implemented. We have chosen to create a game in Java and we are interested in your opinions on interaction and user experience. We would be grateful for detailed replies, don't be shy on leaving your comments.

The Story;You are the lone survivor in a zombie apocalypse, you have entered a small village and are taken by surprise by the groaning of zombies. They have noticed you, and are coming for your brains....

The Game:The graphical approach is pixelated, orthograpic view and the camera focused on the character, the camera is static and cant be rotated. Its a real-time top down shooter and your goal is to survive as many rounds of zombies as possible.

We need to get in touch with your views on how to implement the users interaction to give the best experience possible. You have the possibility to decide several aspects of the game development. Have in mind that we are trying to design with good interaction, so give it a thought before you think in the same ways as before, 'I have liked 5 games that have done it in this way, i want it this way', but is that the best and easiest way to play the game? We want the pros and cons of each of the ways, not just a 'No' or 'Yes'.

* Required

Character Movement

The following questions are about movement of the characters. Please leave your opinions on each of the examples. Why you think one is better then the other, or not.
Please have in consideration the questions about shooting further down.

Example 1, Keyboard
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The character moves up on the map when you press the button to move up.

This is a required question

Example 2, Keyboard & Mouse
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The character moves in the direction it is facing when you press the button to go forward.

This is a required question

Example 3, Keyboard & Mouse
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The character moves forward in the direction of the mouse when you press the button to go forward.

This is a required question

Example 4, Mouse.
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The character moves to the position where you click the mouse button to move.

This is a required question

Character Shooting

The following questions handle the way the character shoots his weapon.

Example 1, Keyboard
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Press a button to shoot in the direction the character is pointing.

This is a required question

Example 2, Keyboard & Mouse
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The character points to the direction of the mouse, and shoots.

This is a required question

How important is it for you to be able to shoot in a 360 degree angle?
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1

2

3

4

5

Less important

Very important

This is a required question

Inventory System

The following questions handle the inventory system.

Example 1: Window
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The run of the mill inventory system. A window containing all of your items. Consider them either in a list with text, icons or images representing the items.

This is a required question

Example 2: Circle
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The items pops up in a circle around your character in the style of Secret of Mana and Grand Theft Auto V.

This is a required question

Example 3: Hotbar
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Your items pop up in a hotbar as you recieve them. You change weapons by pressing for example 1.

This is a required question

UX for the game as a whole
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In this section we would like to get you input for how to handle the grapical representation of i.e. health, XP, enemies downed etc. Should the health be represented as a health bar, or old-school-style as in Legend of Zelda with hearts? Etc.

This is a required question

Quick questions about the game play.

Skilltree vs. Inventory
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Should the game implement a skill tree where the player are given skillpoints at set intervals which can be added to new ways of attack and defence. Or should the game contain an inventory system and random loot to be generated when an enemy is downed? The number "2" represents a mix of the both systems in game.

1

2

3

Skilltree

Inventory system

This is a required question

*

Not at all, do not do this!

Not interested

Neutral.

Interested

Very interested, you must do this!

Healthbar

Regenerative Health

Health pickups

Regenerative ammo/magic

Ammo/magic pickups

Different characters, different skills/abilities

Build extra defenses, fences, mines

Please enter one response per row

Comments about the above questions

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Other opinions

Please leave any other opinions we have missed and you think that we should take notice of.

This is a required question

Contact

Write your email here if you are ok with us contacting you for further questions.